Apparatus and method for merging wireless telephone service with existing wired telephone equipment in a facility
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method for merging mobile, or wireless, telephone service with existing wired telephone equipment in a facility, such as a home or business, are provided. With the apparatus and method, a converter is associated with the facility such that a wireless telephone number is associated with the converter. Telephone calls may be made to the facility via a wireless telephone network and the converter. The converter receives calls from the wireless telephone network directed to the converter, converts the format of the wireless telephone call to a wired telephone call format, and routes these calls to one or more wired telephone units in the facility. Calls originating from the wired telephone units in the facility are received by the converter which converts the call signals to an appropriate format for wireless network routing, and forwards the call to the wireless network.
14 Citations
49 Claims
-
1-26. -26. (canceled)
-
27. A computer implemented method of routing calls from wired telephone devices in a facility, the computer implemented method comprising:
-
receiving a call from a wired telephone device;
converting the call to a wireless telephone network format;
forwarding the call directly to a wireless telephone network without routing the call through a wired telephone network external to the facility;
determining a location of a wireless telephone device associated with the facility routing the call to the wireless telephone device based on the location of the wireless telephone device, wherein the call is routed to the wireless telephone device only when the location of the wireless telephone device is not a location within the facility. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
-
-
28-30. -30. (canceled)
-
39. An apparatus for routing calls from wired telephone devices in a facility, comprising:
-
a facility wired network interface;
a wireless network interface; and
a controller coupled to both the facility wired network interface and the wireless network interface, wherein the controller receives a call from a wired telephone device;
converts the call to a wireless telephone network format;
forwards the call directly to a wireless telephone network without routing the call through a wired telephone network external to the facility;
determines a location of a wireless telephone device associated with the facility;
routes the call to the wireless telephone device based on the location of the wireless telephone device, wherein the call is routed to the wireless telephone device only when the location of the wireless telephone device is not a location within the facility. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43)
-
-
44. A computer program product comprising:
-
a computer usable medium including computer usable program code for routing calls from a wired telephone devices in a facility, the computer program product including;
computer usable program code for receiving a call from a wired telephone device;
computer usable program code for converting the call to a wireless telephone network format;
computer usable program code for forwarding the call directly to a wireless telephone network without routing the call through a wired telephone network external to the facility;
computer usable program code for determining a location of a wireless telephone device associated with the facility;
computer usable program code for routing the call to the wireless telephone device based on the location of the wireless telephone device, wherein the call is routed to the wireless telephone device only when the location of the wireless telephone device is not a location within the facility. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
-
Specification